~ A Journal of Democracy and Public Affairs

The appalling effects of the Affordable Care Act

Here are some things to remember as we observe in sympathetic silence the appalling effects of the Affordable Care Act:

You cannot create new markets by writing a bunch of complicated rules and computer code. Markets that serve people well grow gradually.

A health insurance policy is a complex contract among multiple parties. The ACA treats this set of legal and financial obligations like a retail item you buy at Amazon.

The last point is easiest to forget: markets and contracts require honesty. Dishonesty in business relations is simply fraud.

Government intervention can never improve the sad condition of our health care markets. Government involvement with health care markets has a lot to do with how bad these markets have become. The most effective way to improve these markets is to reduce government intervention. Gradually extricate government control from this vital area.

People refer to the Affordable Care Act as a train wreck. Train wrecks are spectacular, and by comparison other accidents, they take some time to unfold. The Affordable Care Act is much worse than a train wreck: it is intentional rather than accidental, and the harm it inflicts stems from hubris.

The Affordable Care Act is immoral in the same way communism was immoral: it gathers power to the state, and deprives people of freedom in order to serve the state’s interests. It does so through the usual tools: dishonesty and coercion. Consequently, we should never submit. We should resist this law at every turn, wherever an opportunity presents itself.